Let Me Live Poem by Ajit Das

Perhaps he was aware of it:
something within gnawing at him.

The seed that was sown long ago
in reckless habit,
grew into deadly addiction,
coiling around him: a boa constrictor
never unwinding its grip.

When tested positive,
he shrugged off his diagnosis;
but his eyes showed it: a shade of fear
darkening the outward care-free air.

His face seldom betrayed pain, grief
he endured on the private ward bed.
Drugs, lingering hope gave him strength,
but it was a battle unequal to stop
his cells multiplying, life ebbing out.

The desire to live gradually yielded
to a stoic acceptance of the door
relentlessly opening into the dark.

And, when the end came, he convulsed
for the last time, lay still,
the half-open eyes as if pleading
not to let him die.

*Based on a real life story